Amar Vani

Author(s): Amarmuni
Publisher: Sanmati Gyan Pith Agra

Page 67

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AMAR VAND
Who is the True Devotee ?
The path which the devotee has to tread on is not the royal road decorated and strewn with beautiful and fragrant flowers. It is a hard path. It is strewn with thorns and sharp-edged pebbles that would make their feet bleed It is attended by a series of heart-chilling accidents and events one: after the other. In the words of Kabir, the devotee must ever keep himself prepared to embrace death. The devotee is the man who would tread on thorns, cross the oceans and rule over the storms. He would tread over the peaks of the highest mountains. Sorrow is his friend and happiness his. enemy.
Penance
Devotee, Deity and Devotion form the TRINITY of spirituar penance. The devotee is the adorer, the deity is God and devotion is concentration. When in the process of concentration the devotee identifies himself with the deity, and severing all bonds of attachment and illusion, he merges. himself with his deity, then alone he would taste the divine fruit of his penance. The identification of the human soul with the soul divine is real devotion, real concentration. conversion of the soul into the soul divine, of the devoteeinto the deity is the attainment of God. The more the devotee is devoted to his deity, his more concentration will he have and the more closely will he identify himself with the deity. Without this identification the devotee cannot taste the nectar of penance or get liberated.
Fear of Death
Are you afraid of death, O ascetic ? Is death something to be feared ? No, you are mistaken. Death is nothing but